


we both got split in two

by curlyandtommo (blackbeltbrea)



Category: Faking It (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-19
Updated: 2014-04-28
Packaged: 2018-01-19 22:40:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1486780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackbeltbrea/pseuds/curlyandtommo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'They didn't have to fall in love with each other just because they were soulmates. Platonic matches occurred all the time.'</p><p>Or, the one in which Karma and Amy are soulmates but they think it's completely platonic. Hint: it isn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the script was written

When Amy was young, only about three or four years old, her mother would bring her to church every Sunday.

It would start with her mother buckling her into Amy's car seat, little feet encased in her Sunday's best as they hung off the edge of the seat. Amy would whine and cry about missing her favorite cartoon in the morning but her mother would just shake her head and drive a little faster, impatiently looking back at the small girl every other minute.

The writing on her wrist sat so much more heavily when Amy brought her hands together to pray. Her mother warned her about the name, said that it wouldn't be like most of the stories she saw on television or in the movies. There would be no story like Mr. and Mrs. Ladybug for her. She would never have that perfect romance like the normal soulmates did.

Instead, she would find a platonic soulmate in a girl named Karma Ashcroft.

* * *

She finally meets her soulmate at the age of five when she begins Kindergarten.

All Amy can feel is nervousness; her mother is leaving her, just like Amy's father. She begins to cry at the door, tears dripping down her cheeks as her mother drives off. Fearfully, she looks at the room full of thirty Kindergarteners, each corner in various states of chaos. Then she sees her.

The girl is laughing joyfully as she colors in a bird with a purple crayon, her frilly pink dress swishing with every breath she takes. Amy, as young as she is, can feel something tugging in her chest when the girl turns to face her, their eyes meeting.

"Do you wanna help me color?" the girl asks, pearly white teeth showing as she grins.

All Amy can do is furiously nod her head and pick up an orange crayon.

They end up naming the fish Patches, for the orange chunks of color that clash against the purple.

* * *

Finding your soulmate at such a young age makes a lot of things easier, and in turn, a lot more difficult.

There are days when Amy just wants to cry because of her mom, the woman trying to push so much of her own opinions into Amy's life that it makes Amy feel as if she doesn't have a personality of her own anymore. Those are the days when Karma has Amy sleep over at her house, and they eat ice cream together as Karma patiently listens to what Amy has to say without interruption.

Of course, there comes the moments when having a platonic soulmate just sucks, really. Like when in sixth grade, when Danny Oliva asks Karma out and she says yes.

Amy can't explain the heartache she feels in her chest at seeing them make out in the hallways during school. She should've felt happy for them—Karma found a guy who didn't have a reason to run off once he found out that he wasn't her soulmate. Danny had blank wrists, and no one had his name on one of their wrists either. It must've been both sad and relieving to be freed of all the responsibility that comes with having a soulmate.

When the two break up a week later because of some drama involving him checking out another girl, Amy can't find it in herself to feel bad for Danny, because she finally has her best friend back.

* * *

"Do you ever think that the names on our wrists don't mean anything?"

Amy nearly drops her bowl of popcorn onto Karma's bed. She stares at the Karma for a minute as the girl ignores her, staring straight ahead where Olive Garden is displaying their endless breadsticks promotion.

"No, I haven't. Are you kidding me right now?"

At least Karma has the courtesy to look ashamed as she guiltily mutters, "It was just a thought."

Sighing in exasperation, Amy stares her straight in the eyes. "Karma, come on, be serious. Look at us—we're perfect together. You know that I can't sleep without a stuffed animal so you get out your old ones every time I sleep over. I only talk during commercials when we're marathoning because I know you hate it. You know that I hate odd numbers so you always have the volume set on even ones. I always pour the milk before the actual cereal for you because you're weird like that. You—"

"I get it!" Karma snaps, finally interrupting Amy's tirade. "Like I said, I was just thinking. We won't be in middle school for much longer and I..."

The two both fall silent as Dance Moms comes back on.

"Look," Karma whispers, her hand finding Amy's under the sheets and gripping it tight. "I'm sorry, I just...it's different for us, you know?"

Amy doesn't get why it has to be, but she cracks a smile anyway and replies, "I know that you wet the bed until you were ten, that the first boy you tried to kiss threw up in your mouth—"

"Shut up!" Karma shrieks, giggling as she shoves Amy over on the bed. "I was eight and that was _one_ time!"

* * *

Starting high school is a such a surreal experience. Amy keeps expecting someone to stuff her into a locker, and flinches whenever someone she doesn't know speaks to her. Instead, Hester High School is completely different from the cliche schools portrayed on TV. The outcasts are popular, as if that even makes sense, because it really doesn't to her.

Karma ends up sharing four out of six classes with her, which is both a blessing and a curse.

On one hand, having four classes with Karma means that they get to be with each other during partner projects and they don't have to worry about not knowing anybody. On the other hand, Amy really doesn't have any friends besides Karma.

It's lonely in Earth Science where nobody knows her name. It's downright pathetic in Algebra where they think her name is Ally.

Karma doesn't help when she says stuff like, "You need to put yourself out there."

Amy can't help but think of every time Karma pukes when she starts talking to a cute guy. Instead of saying that, she replies, "It's difficult. Everyone already knows each other and the people from middle school ignore me."

She feels happier when Karma loops their arms together and says, "Well, you'll always have me."

* * *

_my gam gam is in the hospital_   
_i don't think she'll get better -k_

Amy begs her mom to drive her over to Karma's house once she reads the texts. She must see the desperation in Amy's eyes because five minutes later Amy is knocking at the Ashcroft's front door. Karma is assaulted by Amy's hug when she opens the door, and soon both girls are crying into each other's shoulders, mumbling 'I love you' and 'it'll be okay.'

Amy's mom ends up letting her spend the night. It's not as if she could've separated the two, anyway.

* * *

"Remember the man I met on that wonderful Christian mingle site? Well, last night, he proposed."

So her mother had lied about working overtime, which really shouldn't have been a surprise. Who would spend the whole night looking at wind patterns for overtime?

"That's great, mom." Amy forces what she hopes looks more like a smile than a grimace. "What's his name again?"

Her mother glares at her harshly.

"Just kidding, just kidding!" She's not kidding. But this time Any does actually smile, surprisingly happy that her mom finally met somebody.

Somebody she would be getting married to, whoa. Maybe her mom would stop smothering her so much, once she and this new guy got married.

Her mother rambles on, ignorant to Amy's realization that she would eventually have to meet this man. "We've been dating for a few months now, as you should know. He lives in Odessa, a few cities over, so he'll be moving in with his daughter, Lauren. She's your age so you'll have a lot in common. This will be great, Amy, I promise."

* * *

It is not great, Amy decides, after Lauren decides to "accidentally" throw away another pair of Amy's jeans for the fifth time in a month.

* * *

Karma seems a lot more concerned with their popularity as sophomore year approaches. The two girls are laying on Amy's bed watching reruns of Law and Order when Karma suddenly sits up. "We need to become outcasts," she exclaims. "Why didn't I think of that before?" She grins, and Amy is reminded of the first time they met, when Karma didn't care that she only had one friend. When did Amy not become enough to satisfy her?

Despite feeling downcast, she decides to play along, because who is she kidding?—she would do anything for Karma. "And what exactly will you do?"

"I'll become blind. Well, sort of. It'll be great!"

Amy groans. "My mom said the same thing about Lauren."

Karma, ever the optimist, grins even wider in response. "This plan will work out. And I haven't met your new step-sister yet, but how bad can she really be?"


	2. everything is new to me

As a little girl, Karma used to dream about finding her soulmate and marrying them, complete with an elaborate, fancy wedding. Karma would be able to wear a poofy dress like the Disney princesses—only in the color white—and her dad would walk her down the aisle towards her soulmate.  
  
"Honey," her father said in response to her giddiness, "your soulmate's name is Amy; maybe you'll end up being platonic soulmates."  
  
Abruptly, she stopped jumping up and down. Her eyes began to water. "I won't get to do it, Papa?" She burst into tears, to which Karma's mother glared at Karma's father, the man cringing at his mistake.  
  
"Karma, baby, you can definitely walk down the aisle," her mother soothed, stroking the girl's cheek. "It'll just be a bit different from the normal weddings you see, don't worry about it. Maybe she'll want to walk down the aisle herself."  
  
Slowly, Karma began to calm down, her sniffles subsiding somewhat. "Wait," she said slowly. "Two weddings! One where I walk down the aisle and one where she does! And there will be balloons and candy and unicorns!" She began to squeal in delight at the prospect of having twice the fun.  
  
All her parents could do was smile at creativeness.

* * *

"When do you wanna get married?"  
  
The question has Amy, only seven years old, confused. "What?" she asks disbelievingly, staring at Karma as if the girl has lost her mind.  
  
"I was thinking that we could get married after we finish school. Not this school, because my dad said that's illegal, but after high school, when we're big kids. We'll be older then."  
  
Amy says nothing, which only makes Karma nervous. "Of course," she rambles on, "my mom says illegal is only a sick bird, so maybe in fifth grade we can—"  
  
"We're not getting married," Amy interrupts. "My mom said that we're platonic soulmates, and only romantic soulmates get married," she explains, avoiding Karma's eyes. "We're girls, we're not romantic soulmates."  
  
This time Karma is the one who is speechless. At only six years old, her dreams are crushed by her best friend, and more importantly, her soulmate.  
  
"Okay," she mumbles, and that was that.

* * *

For some insane reason Karma accepts a date when a guy in her English class asks her to the movies. It's very lame because not only do her parents have to drive them there, but they act weird around Danny, eying him distrustfully from the front seats. Karma chalks it up to them being protective of their daughter on her first date.  
  
Alice in Wonderland turns out to be a good movie, but it's too hard to concentrate when her date keeps trying to no-so-subtly inch his hand closer to hers. He didn't even buy her ticket, so she just wasted ten dollars to be distracted but a guy who couldn't even make the leap to hold her hand. It's incredibly humiliating, especially when he asks her on another date afterwards.  
  
Karma considers it. He's attractive, by most girls' standards, with dark hair, blue eyes and a wide, easy smile. More importantly, he has no soulmate, romantic or otherwise.  
  
Despite all of this she says no, but tells him that they can make out on another day. She tells Amy a week later that it didn't work out because he looked at Cassidy Chase, which isn't exactly a lie. He did - a few days after they made out in school for the first and last time, during which he gets sick and accidentally pukes in her mouth a little bit.  
  
Middle school is tough like that, but it's not like she didn't feel like puking as well when his tongue touched hers.

* * *

She begins to have doubts about the whole soulmate business as she wonders why there are different types of soulmates. It's not like there's a way to differentiate between the types, but some people instinctively know that they're never going to fall in love with their soulmate in that way, despite the name on their wrist telling them that they well. They'll love their soulmate with all their will, but they'll never quite be _in_ love with them. It's special for everyone, and it seems like her and Amy are no different. They're best friends, but to Karma it feels like something is missing in their bond. Amy certainly knows how she feels, though.  
  
Like long ago, however, Karma decides to ignore her feelings and continue her friendship with Amy. The doubt surrounding their relationship is not even comparable to her affection for Amy, which shows on Karma's fourteenth birthday when Amy organizes yet another party for her, complete with the annual scavenger hunt.  
  
The event is overshadowed somewhat by Karma's grandmother being sick, but they manage to have fun regardless. That year's scavenger hunt goes off once again without a hitch, and Karma wins for the third year in a row.  
  
"Really, Amy?" Karma levels an unimpressed look at the girl. The last item was a safety vest on top of the diving board. "That was _so_ high up —I didn't think I was actually going to be able to do it."  
  
Amy sticks out her tongue in response as they eat cake.  
  
"Okay, it's time for presents everybody. Gather around!" Karma's mother manages to rounds up everyone, even Karma's young cousins who try to kick her when she tells the get out of the jolly jumper.  
  
The first present is small, wrapped in an obnoxiously bright green paper. "I wonder who it's from," she says sarcastically, smiling at Amy. Because there's no card, she goes straight to tearing the paper off. Her smile fades as she opens the tiny box inside and sees what it is.

"No." Her eyes shift toward Amy. "I don't want it," she tells Amy, reluctant to accept such a gift.  
  
"Karma," her mother scolds. "Don't be so rude."  
  
"Mom," she whines, not sure how to convey the situation. "You don't know what it is."  
  
The present is simple. It should be nothing, really. The ring is a plain silver band, but she knows to Amy that it means the world. It was the only thing her father left her before he disappeared from her life when she was three. Karma can't believe that Amy would try to gift this to her when it was the only thing she had to remember him by.  
  
Clearly uncomfortable, Amy ducks her head. "I want you to have it," she mumbles, avoiding the confused glances of everyone else who don't understand the ring's greater meaning. "It means a lot to me, and so do you."

* * *

Karma won't take the ring off for anything. She's not embarrassed in the slightest by her obvious devotion to her soulmate.  
  
Amy blushes every time she sees it.

* * *

Karma has hated hospitals ever since she was young, clutching at her uncle's hands as he struggled to breath. Death was something that she was used to, but her experiences with it didn't make her feel any better seeing her Gam Gam slowly die.

Her grandmother, right before she dies, takes Karma's hand into her own and looks deep into her eyes. "Find someone who will always love you no matter what, Karma." The woman's frail hand is touching the silver ring, almost purposefully.

Karma nods. "Of course, Gam Gam."  
  
Her eyes seem to sparkle for a moment as she says, "You deserve someone who will care for you as much as you will for them. Don't settle for anything less."

* * *

She cries at the funeral, but not as hard as she would have if Amy wasn't there to hold her.

* * *

Just like with everything else, Karma has high hopes for high school. She wants to excel - not only in her grades, but I'm her social status as well.  
  
It's obvious from the third day that popularity isn't going to come easily to her. Her school is like some weird, inverted version of Glee, except that even the popular kids aren't getting slushied. Everyone's so accepting.  
  
It's disgusting.  
  
Okay, well actually it's pretty awesome. No one's getting bullied and everyone, oddly enough, seems to get along just dandy with each other. The 'Magic: The Gathering' Club is the most popular club in the school, local drug dealers can be seen giving out coupons, GSA posters are plastered along every wall, and all of the teachers are loved by everyone.  
  
Karma was raised by the media to believe that only the mean girls could be popular, and the nice were considered weak, unpopular, and pathetic. Obviously that isn't true now, and she feels tricked. It's not fair.  
  
 _I'm going to become popular,_ Karma she decides the summer after ninth grade _._ She considers her freshman year somewhat wasted, and she's certainly not going to throw her sophomore year away as well.

Amy just rolls her eyes when Karma tells her all of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole backstory for Karma came out of nowhere for me, but I hope you guys like it. I wanted Karma to have her whole idea of the perfect soulmate dream rejected because despite who anyone's soulmate is, they're still going to have problems with outside influences.
> 
> Enough of my rambling—thanks for reading! :) I'll try to update next week.

**Author's Note:**

> I plan on following the show in terms of plot direction, so I'll update after each new episode airs. Of course, it'll probably end up completely different anyway, so yeah.
> 
> Thanks for reading! :)


End file.
